The NFL-ready play of Purdue defensive tackle Kawann Short has made scouts swoon and opponents cringe.

Ohio State fans know him best for the three sacks he had in a 26-23 overtime victory over the Buckeyes last November.

But Short, 6 feet 3 and 315 pounds, is a special-teams monster, too. He wrote his name in the Purdue record book in a loss to Wisconsin last week by blocking a field goal for the sixth time in his career.

It was his third blocked field goal of the season and the eighth blocked kick of his career. Short also has batted down two extra-point attempts.

“There is no secret to it,” Short said. “You just have to know how to watch film and find the weaknesses you need to expose.”

It doesn’t hurt, of course, that Short possesses a potent mix of strength, size and athleticism.

His “lower unit,” coach Danny Hope said, is “tremendous.”

The mighty mass of thighs and rump doesn’t stop the former high-school hoops star from dunking a basketball. It also helps him to get low and get a push before springing upward with an arm in the air for blocking kicks.

Short’s six blocked field goals have put him within sniffing distance of NCAA records. Lonnell Dewalt of Kentucky blocked six attempts in 2004. Current Southern Methodist defensive end Margus Hunt holds the career record of 10.

“We still have a lot of football left to be played, so he’s going to block some more,” Hope said. “He may etch that (school record) in stone, and it may be in place for a long time.

“He gets a lot of push, so he’s able to knock the guards back, and he has very good hand-eye coordination and a good sense of timing. He gets his big paw up and swats the ball down. He has a knack for it.”

But Short is best known for stopping ball carriers. The fifth-year senior from East Chicago, Ind., has 26 tackles for loss and 101/2 sacks since the start of last season. He ranks ninth on Purdue’s career sack list (161/2) and third among active Football Bowl Subdivision players in career tackles for loss (421/2).

Short is considered a first-round draft prospect after electing to remain at Purdue for his final season. He struggled with play-to-play consistency in the past, but Hope said he is playing with more effort than ever.

“He has more good plays and more good games halfway through the season now than at any point in time in his career at Purdue,” Hope said.

But the defensive line, which was expected to be the strength of the Purdue defense, has struggled the past two weeks in home losses to Michigan and Wisconsin.

The Boilermakers gave up a combined 482 rushing yards to Michigan quarterback Denard Robinson and Wisconsin running back Montee Ball, dropping Purdue to the bottom of the Big Ten in rushing defense.

Poor tackling was a factor, and Short tipped his hat to two good offensive lines, but he said Purdue is capable of containing an explosive Ohio State running game.

“We’ve got to get back to the groove we had when we started out,” Short said. “We feel we can do it.”